


Balance

by Wolvez23



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Blood, Love Confessions, M/M, One Shot, Shance Fluff Week 2017, shance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-10
Updated: 2017-06-10
Packaged: 2018-11-12 13:04:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11162433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolvez23/pseuds/Wolvez23
Summary: Something happened, an explosion. Where was Lance? They had to get Lance!OrWhen tragedy strikes things may seem bad at first, but with others at your side something bad can become something good.





	Balance

It was supposed to be a simple recon mission. The planet was said to have natives that Zarkon has yet to find. So of course Allura thought it woukd be wise to make allies. 

Unfortunately the Galra somehow tracked them and appeared in the sky. 

Allura from the castle, which was hidden in the thick jungle trees, quickly informed the others, "paladins! The galra have found us, it appears to be one ship. Quickly, form voltron." 

Shiro frowned as he spotted the ship, he had thought it would be a good idea for everyone to spilt up as to cover more ground. How was he supposed to know the galra would just show up? 

"Everyone, find my location now!"   
A course of acknowledgement rang through his helmet. 

Shiro flew to the sky and spotted the others some distance away. 

But before they could get to him there was a blast. The explosion was powerful, throwing his lion from the sky. Smoke filled the sky making visibility impossible. 

"Oh no. Who was hit? Everyone sound off!" 

"Keith here. Im.. I'm okay " 

"Pidge and I'm alright, no damage to my lion." 

"Hunk and I'm fine." 

'That means it was lance.' Shiro flew his lion above the tree tops, "lance! Lance to you read me? Lance!" There was no response. 

Keith's voice came through the cloud of anger and dispare that rushed his mind, "Shiro, what do we do?" 

"Uh... um, we attack them, there's only one. We can't save lance until they are taken out." 

"But... Voltron." 

"I know Pidge, we can do this, we have to." 

Shiro looked back, spotting the blue lion. It was on its back, it's side was charred. It didn't look good at all. "We'll be quick lance, just hold on a little longer." 

The lions flew to galra ship at full force. 

In the blue lion lance hanged upside down from his chair. He had been knocked out, but was slowly regaining consciousness. He groaned and opened his eyes. Everything was blurry. "Wh... What happened?" He looked around, noticing he was in his lion. "What? Blue?" Lance didn't sense her, "blue? Are you okay?" Still nothing. 

Lance felt very numb and cold, his head was dizzy and he could taste blood. He looked down and what he saw made him pass out. 

Explosions rang out and the galra ship was going down. 

"Good work everyone." Though the event was solemn. "Princess can you get the castle to out location? The blue lion is in pretty bad shape and we don't know the status of lance." 

"Right away Shiro."

Shiro and the others flew down to lance and left their lions, running over to the blue lion, but there was a dilemma, the lion's mouth was shut closed. 

Pidge went over to blue and touched her muzzle, "Shiro, blue seems to be offline, there's no way we can get in."

Shiro examined the lion, "then I guess we'll have to use force." 

Shiro looked down at his hand before walking over to the lion's mouth. 

"Shiro!" Keith ran over and put a hand on his shoulder, "you can do that, you'll just end up hurting yourself." 

"But we need to get lance out!" 

"I know Shiro, but you're not strong enough to open the lion's mouth." 

Shiro's eyes forwarded, "watch me." He shrugged Keith off and grabbed the upper jaw, making sure he had good footing before thrusting it up. 

Keith, Pidge, and Hunk watched in anxiousness, they all knew this wasn't smart, but what else could they do? 

Shiro grunted, sweat pouring down his face, and muscles straining. It felt like he's been doing this forever when the sound of metal opening up was heard. 

The three gasped, "shiro, your actually doing it!" 

Shiro shut his eyes tight as he opened up the lion's mouth. He fell on his knees and panted, "come on... Let's get lance." 

The group ran inside and were horrified to what they saw. Blood was splattered on the floor... ceiling, shiro thought. They spotted lance, unconscious with his arms hanging. As they walked to where he was they heard the sound of glass under their feet. 

Shiro went to pull lance off the chair when he saw his legs, "oh my god."

Shiro?" Even in the dim room Keith could tell Shiro was white as a sheet. He looked down and saw what had horrified Shiro, Lance's legs were mangled, twisted in a way that was thought to be impossible, red covered them, and keith could have sworn that was a bone. 

As Keith and Shiro gently lowered Lance down Hunk was quick to cover Pidge's eyes. 

Shiro held lance bridal style, "I'll take him to my lion, you guys go ahead and tell the princess to start the healing pod." 

They nodded and ran out, leaving the pair alone. 

That was when Shiro broke down, he didn't want to cry in front of everyone else. He was suppose to be the strong leader, showing no fear. 

"Im so sorry lance. I should have been there to protect you." 

Lance's face was expressionless, his body felt cold, which was unnerving.

"We'll get you healed up," He walked out of the blue lion and into his own, "you'll be back to your old self in no time." 

Shiro carefully laid lance down, making sure he was secured before taking off.

Once inside the castle Allura and Coran came running with what seemed to be a hovering stretcher. Shiro put Lance on it, finally revealing the extent of his injuries. 

Hunk felt himself gag, never would he have thought he woukd ever see his friend like this. 

Coran looked Lance over, "Princess, this doesn't look good. I think we'll have to perform surgery before we can put him in the healing pod." 

Surgery. That word struck the paladins to the core and it told them how bad Lance was.

Allura and Coran wasted no time, rushing to the medical room. Shiro had complete faith in them and since lance was already in the healing pod they knew his body. 

Shiro looked at his team, the feeling in the room was melancholy. "Okay guys, let's go get the blue lion and once it's back in the castle let's all... Relax, you guys deserve it." 

Lance felt like cotton was shoved into his mouth, he groaned while he slowly opened his eyes.

'What's going on?... Am I in the healing pod again?' Lance tried to lift a hand, but found he was too weak. 

Lance saw figures sound the pod, making lance panic. Was he captured? Would explain this strange feeling he had.

The pod's door opened and lance felt arms wrapping around him, holding him close. 

Lance felt he should be trying to escape, but, he felt safe here. 

"Lance?" 

That voice, it was familiar.

"Lance, are you okay?" 

"Sh... Shiro?" His throat was hoarse. 

"Yes Lance, it's me, your safe now." 

Lance blinked a few times, allowing his eyes to adjust to the light. 

"Shiro, it is you." Lance looked over and smiled, "Hunk, Pidge, Keith." He noticed they all looked tired, "what's going on?" 

"Well, um..." Shiro bit his lip and looked up at the others. "Lance, there was an accident when the galra attacked,and you were hurt very bad." 

Lance looked confused, "weird, I don't remember anything." 

"To be expected." Allura and Coran seemingly came from no where. Coran walked over to Lance's side, "you were in the healing pod for a long time, short term memory is a side effect." 

"Oh." 

Lance tried to sit up, but failed. He looked up at Shiro and blushed, "can you help me up." 

Lance noticed Shiro's face looked off, "why don't I carry you, you just got out of the healing pod and are weak." 

"Um, sure. Thanks." 

Shiro easily lifted up Lance, holding him close. Lance's face felt warm, he could get used to this. 

"Hey Shiro?" 

"Yeah?"

"How long was I out." 

Shiro's frown deepened, "a month." 

Lance felt his heart stop, "a month!? What happened to me?" 

Shiro looked over at the others, who gave him the same look, "you shouldn't worry about that, just rest for now, then we'll all eat, and explain everything. Is that okay?" 

"Well, I do feel tired. Yeah, okay, sounds good." 

Shiro left, carrying lance to his room. Laying him in his bed and covering him. An akward silence hovered between them. 

Lance cleared his throat, "thank you, shiro." 

Shiro rubbed the back or his head, "oh, it's no problem." 

Lance smiled before closing his eyes, quickly falling to sleep. 

Once Shiro returned the group moved to the common room to discuss what they should do next. 

"Lance will be out for a few hours." 

"Yeah, and when he wakes up he's going to freak out." Shiro recoiled at Keith's bluntness, but he was right. 

"I suppose we'll have to keep a close look at his door then." 

Pidge quickly sat up, "nope, nope, nope! Hunk and I still have to do some tweaking! With the help of Coran of course." 

Shiro looked over at her, "oh yeah. How is it anyways?" 

"I'd say it's going well," Hunk cracked his knuckles and got up, "we just have to work on the balance issues and it'll be ready." 

Shiro nodded, "good, the quicker the better. I'm proud of you guys." 

Pidge and Hunk smiled brightly, "anything for a friend." The pair left for the workroom, with Coran on their heels. 

The room grew quiet. Shiro and Keith looked at each other before leaving to keep watch at Lance's door.

The pair knew he would be out for a while so the decided to get comfortable. 

"This sucks." Shiro looked over at Keith. "This shouldn't have happened, if we had been faster and formed voltron, Lance wouldn't..." 

"No! Dont you dare feel bad about this. None of this isn't our fault, it's the galra. They are monsters, they hurt people and don't even care about the consequences," Shiro looked at his arm, squeezing his hand. 

"Hey!" Keith looked at him, smiling.

"Heh, well not all galra of course." 

Keith leaned back against the wall, "this is going to be rough." 

"Yeah, but you know Lance." 

"He's always stubborn," they finished together. 

"Thats what I love about him. No matter the situation, no matter how grim it gets, he's always smiling and working hard to get the job done." 

Keith smiled and Shiro, he could see the admiration on his face. 

"You should tell him." 

Shiro flinched, "wh-what!?" 

Keith laughed, "Shiro. Come on. I know you like lance," Shiro's face turned red, "and I think you should tell him. Especially now, it'll really help him get through this." 

Before Shiro could reply a horrified scream came from Lance's room. 

"Shit!" Shiro and Keith got up, rushing into the room. 

Inside Lance had just woke up, he wanted to get up, but found he couldn't and when he tried to stretch he noticed his legs felt weird. So he moved the blanket aside, revealing the problem. 

"Ahhh!!~" Lance felt sick, this couldn't be happening. He was still asleep, dreaming, right? He flinched when the door to his room opened up and Shiro and Keith came barreling in. 

This was real. 

Lance started to cry, "Sh-Shiro, what happened to me? Where are my legs!?" Lance motioned to his legs, which were scarred and nothing more then mere stumps. 

Keith held back his own tears, closing his eyes and staying back. He had yet to get a good look at lance, but seeing them now, it was bad. 

Shiro walked over to lance, sitting beside him, "Lance, you have to calm down." Lance was hyperventilating, "look at me Lance." He grabbed his chin, moving it towards him, "look at me and breath slowly." Lance's eyes moved to look at his, they looked blood shot. 

"Thats it, breath and calm yourself. It's going to be okay." 

It took a moment, but Lance's breathing started to even out. 

"There you are." 

Lance moved and cried into Shiro's chest, "Shiro." Shiro rubbed the other man's back, he knew Lance needed to get this all out, from experience he knew it wasn't healthy to hold this kind of pain in. 

"Hey keith." 

Keith looked up from wiping away his tears, "yeah?" 

"Can you tell the others lance is awake." 

"Oh yeah, sure." Keith left, hoping Shiro would confess his feelings. 

This wasn't right, how could he pilot blue with no legs. Allura would have to find a new paladin. Lance's heart stopped at that, he was useless to them now. "Oh god." 

"Lance?" Shiro stared at Lance, watching as his face went from fear to sorrow. 

Shiro pulled him in for a hug, holding his tight. 

"What's going to happen to me?" 

"Well, why don't I show you?" Shiro got up before picking Lance up, and walking out the room with him. 

Lance was frowning, silent tears falling from his eyes. "Shiro," his voice was hoarse. "Where are you taking me?" He hated this, would he have to be carried around for the rest of his life? God, he really was useless. 

The state Lance was in now really broke Shiro's heart, hopefully they'll be able to fix that. "Im taking you to the others, they're working on something for you." 

Lance crossed his arms, 'probably a get well soon card or something.' 

They went into the lab and shocked everyone. "Shiro! You brought Lance with you!" Allura said, walking over to them. 

"Yeah, I thought if he saw what you guys were doing it'll make him feel batter." 

Allura smiled at that, "and how are you Lance? Any lightheadedness or nausea? That can happen after spending a long time in the cryopod." Lance looked down at his legs and shook his head. 

Allura frowned. She reached out and grabbed his hand, "Lance... Lance look at me." His eyes moved up, they looked glazed from the tears he had just spilt. "It'll be okay, I promise. Now come see what your friends have done for you." 

Shiro carried Lance over to the table that Pidge, Hunk, and Coran were working at. Lance gasped at what he saw, "is.. is that?" 

Shiro smiled, "yep, it's your new legs, and they should be ready soon." 

Pidge closed a hatch, looking up from her work, "if we keep up with our progress they should be ready tonight." Pidge hugged one of the legs at the feet, "aren't they beautiful lance? I must say, one of my finest work!" 

"Hey!" Hunk and Coran called making Pidge blush, "um, our work." 

Lance cracked a smile and gave a small laugh. Even if it was just a little one, everyone was glad Lance was laughing again.

"Well we'll let you guys continue your work. Are you hungry Lance?" 

"I... Yeah." 

"Alright, off to the kitchen we go." Lance smiled to himself, cheeks heating up. 

"Makes sure he eats slow Shiro!" Coran called out as they left. 

In the kitchen Shiro had sat Lance in the chair and was at the food machine. "So what will you have? Slime, slime, or, ohh sloop?" 

Lance snort laughed, "sloop?" 

Shiro nodded,"yeah, it's slime, but more wet." 

"That doesn't sound pleasant at all. I'll take the slime." 

"Good choice." Shiro put a little slime on a plate to make sure Lance would over eat. "Here you go." He sat the plate in front of him along side of a liquid pack. Lance thanked him before digging in, it was no Hunk's cooking, but it was something.

It didn't take much to fill Lance's stomach.

"Hey Shiro?" 

Shiro looked up from his plate of slime, "yeah?" 

"How... if you don't mind asking... How was it, when you lost your arm and it was replaced? How did you get through it?" 

Shiro's mouth felt dry, memories came all cloudy and jumbled together, "I don't remember much, but, from what I can it was hard, especially since I was with the galra. They made sure everything worked to their advantage and they made sure I didn't have any difficulty." 

Lance suddenly felt bad for asking Shiro that, he should have known it wasn't good. "But Lance." He looked back at Shiro, who reached over and grabbed his hand, "you have us and we'll help you though this." 

Lance blushed, avoiding his eyes, "thank you." 

Shiro didn't want to let go of Lance's hand, it felt right. 'Tell him. Tell him now while you're alone with him.' 

"Are you okay Shiro?" 

"Huh?" 

"You looked out of it. God I shouldn't have asked you that." 

Shiro saw Lance looked frustrated with himself, "oh! No, no! I was just thinking. You don't need to worry." 

Lance breathed out, "good." 

After their meal Shiro carried Lance to what they considered the living room. They had a long wait until they would know of his legs were done. 

'Do it. Do it know, while it's just you two! Why are you so afraid to tell him!?' Shiro breathed out, his heart felt like it was beating faster then it ever has. "Lance." 

Lance looked up at him, "yeah Shiro." 

'Tell him!' Shiro felt his palm's begin to sweat. He turned so his body was facing Lance. 

"There's something important I need to tell you. I... Lance for a long time I've... I've really liked you." He felt he's body shaking, "in fact, I love you Lance, and if you would have me, I would like you to be my boyfriend." 

Lance felt time stop. Was he dreaming? No, he had to of heard him wrong. "Shiro..." He licked his dry lips, "Shiro." 

Shiro looked down, "im sorry. I shouldn't have asked, please, just forget I said anything." 

Lance's eyes widened, "what! N-No! I-I was just taken by suprise!" He blushed, "I didn't know you liked me. I... I like you too Shiro." 

Shiro smiled and boldly grabbed Lance's hand, which made the other man smile. "I would like to be boyfriend." 

"Can I kiss you?" Lance nodded. Shiro cupped his cheek, moving closer to him so he could capture his lips. Lance felt his body grow warm, this felt right. Slowly his eyes began to close.

Suddenly the warmth was gone. 

Opening his eyes he was greeted by Shiro's pink face. Lance reached out to touch his cheek, "that was nice." 

"Yeah." 

" Shiro..." 

"Guys!" The pair jumped back as Keith suddenly ran into the room. He was panting, but smiling, "guys, they've finished." 

Shiro stood up, "so soon." 

"Yeah and it looks great. Come on, it's time for his fitting." Shiro nodded and picked Lance up. 

" I guess this means I can't carry you around anymore." 

Lance hummed, "the one thing I'll miss." He wrapped his arms around Shiro's neck, not wanting to let him go. 

Keith had taken them to the medical room, motioning for Shiro to lay Lance on the examining table. 

Coran was quick to go to his side, "Im going to give you a numbing agent, we'll have to connect your nerves to the prosthesis, and I won't lie, it will hurt." 

Lance swallowed, "okay." 

Coran held what looked like an Altean version of a shot and put it up to his arm's vain, "this will pinch." He injected Lance, and man, Altean shots must work fast, because in that instant Lance grew numb and his body felt like it was floating. 

Lance started to laugh, eyes looking glazed, "whoa." Shiro laughed and rubbed Lance's shoulders. 

"Alright, we're ready." Pidge came up, holding the left leg, "Keith, Shiro, I'll need you two to hold him down, even with the numbing agent he'll still experience pain and will try and fight back." 

Keith held down Lance's stumps while Shiro had his arms. 

"Okay, if done right this should only take a few seconds. Now on three," she nodded at Hunk and Coran, "one. Two. Three."  
There was a snap then a scream. 

Lance tried to tug away, delusional as he whimpered, "make the pain go away, shirooo!" Shiro shushed him and rubbed his arms, "its okay, your doing great." 

Pidge looked over the leg, "okay, let's do the second one." 

By the time they were done Lance was sweating and moaning. 

"There, all done." Pidge wiped her hands and smiled, "looks good. Great job on the measurements Hunk, eveything fits just right." 

"Wasn't easy with him in the healing pod, but it had to be done. We should let him rest and get the numbing agent out of his system. How long should that be Coran." 

"Just a few vargas. In the meantime we should move him back to his room." 

"Already on it." Shiro was careful picking up Lance, not wanting to damage his new legs. 

While Shiro took care of Lance Pidge turned her attention to Coran and Allura, "Princess do you have any sort of physical therapy equipment?" 

"Physical therapy?" 

"Um, yeah. Like things that will help lance strengthen his legs and help him get used to them?" 

Coran clapped, "oh yes! I believe we can find something like that, what exactly would we need?" 

"Something like walking bars, or whatever we have to work with," Hunk spoke up, lucky for him one of his uncles worked in physical therapy, "and work out equipment, of course he would have to slowly work at that."

Coran thought about it, "that doesn't seem to hard to acquire. I'll get right on." 

"Thanks Coran." The altean nodded and was off. Hunk quickly decided to go with him in the event he were to get some strange alien device. 

Pidge finally gave a breath of relief, this whole situation was stressful, and she wasn't sure when the last time she slept was. 

Allura put a hand on her shoulder, Pidge could tell she knew, "go get some sleep. You more the deserve it." 

Pidge smiled and nodded, "okay." 

The princess gave a sigh, maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.

Hours had passed and Lance was just now waking up. The others had started to worry when it seemed like Lance wouldn't wake up, they had thought that maybe the drug Coran gave him wasn't suitable for humans, but their worries quickly subsided. 

Lance groaned as he slowly woke up, "ngh..." His mouth felt like it was full of cotten. 

"Careful now," a voice called. He flinched, for a moment he didn't recognize the voice, but soon everything started coming back. 

"Sh... Shiro." 

"Here, drink this." A straw was against his lips and he put it in his mouth and started drinking, making his mouth and throat feel better. 

"Thank you." 

Lance sat up, feeling weight of the legs. "What happened?" 

Shiro sat on the edge of the bed, "after Coran drugged you we attached your legs, you still experienced some pain though, how are you by the way?" 

"I guess normal... I feel normal." 

"Good. Why don't you look at your legs."

Lance grabbed the blanket, he was anxious, but also a bit excited. Slowly he drew back the blanket revealing his new legs. 

"Wow." They were very diffrent then Shiro's arm, but that was to be expected. They looked very altean with the colors and blue lights at the joints. It kind of reminded lance of the training robots and castle itself. "They did a good job." Lance slowly moved his legs off the bed, it felt odd, but not bad. 

Shiro got up and reached his hand out, "careful now." Lance grabbed his hand, breathing out before standing. He gasped, they felt like his normal legs. Shiro took a step back, allowing room for lance to take a few steps. 

His steps were wobbly, like a child walking for the first time. He walked over to Shiro, falling into his opened arms. He looked up at him. 

Shiro leaned down and kissed him, "you did good. How do they feel." 

"Like my legs, a little heavy, but I guess I'll get used to it." 

Shiro hummed, "that's exactly what my arm feels like." 

Lance stroked his arm, "have you gotten used to it?" 

Shiro watched Lance, "it took a while, but yes." Lance hummed, "now come on, Hunk wants you to start physical therapy." 

Lance groaned at that, but it had to be done. "Carry me?" 

Shiro laughed, "of course." He easily picked him up and carried him to the training room. Lance was amazed at the set up. 

The sound of the door opening got Hunk's attention, "oh good, your here!" 

Shiro put Lance down at the walking bars. 

"We'll start here and see how far you can walk, and then we'll work from there, okay?" 

Lance nodded, holding tightly on the bars. 

Hunk was beside Lance, "just don't push yourself okay, I know how you can get." 

Lance smiled, "Come on Hunk, have faith in me." Hunk shook his head, "well whenever your ready." 

Shiro waited for Lance at the end of the walk way. Lance looked up at him and nodded. He took a step, he could feel his muscles spasm from being too under used. 

Lance began to sweat, moving his other leg. 'Come on! You got to do this! For voltron. For the universe. For shiro!' 

"Lance..." Shiro was about to move to him, but, "stop! I got this." 

Lance took a few more steps, but his muscles were just too weak. He fell to the floor and started crying. Shiro ran over to him, checking for injuries, "Lance, are you okay?" 

Lance shook his head, "I... I can't walk! I should be able to now!" 

Shiro rubbed his back, "hey, it'll be okay. Your muscles just haven't been used in a long time. I mean, you were in a coma for a month." 

Lance sniffed and wiped his face, "guess you're right." 

Hunk went over to the pair, "and Coran and I found some equipment to help you build up strength, so no worries there." 

Lance smiled up at him, "thanks hunk." 

"Hey why don't I cook you a meal, as a congratulations on getting your legs." 

Lance let out a laugh, "I'd like that." 

"Great, now I'll leave you two alone," he winked at the pair before leaving. 

Lance's face turned red, "he knows," he turned to shiro, "Hunk knows!" Shiro laughed with him. 

Lance moved so he was sitting more comfortably. He looked over his scars, rubbing them. Shiro could tell what he was thinking, just by his facial expression he could tell he hated them, that he thought they were ugly. Then, he saw a single tear fall. 

"Hey now," he grabbed Lance's chin and made him look at him, "you are so beautiful lance, even with your legs. It's a part of you, embrace it and it'll make you stronger." 

Lance sniffed, "Shiro," more tears falling, but not of sadness or angre, but of love. He moved closer to Shiro and hugged him, "thank you... thank you so much. I don't know what I would do without you." 

The two kissed, lance smiled agianst Shiro's lips. 

"I love you. I love you so much Shiro." 

"And I love you Lance."


End file.
